Underdark & Surface Travel

[Nachti]

Whats the current way to get to the other side?

Long ago it was throught the netherese ruins/shadowplane/durlags but that seems no more the case.

- Shadowplane has been moved to Ulcaster?
- Theres a new way through upperdark, connected to Durlags Tower Level 2?

[metaquad4]

The upperdark (somewhere in the north, I think. I forget where the passage is exactly) connects the underdark and the surface now.

[Storm Munin]

Upperdark crossing mean traveling about 10 preepic maps between sshamath and baldur's gate. However that only work for orcs.
Surfacers cant take the caravan to sshamath.
UD races cant pass the kobold to upstairs in the troll claws.

It is still Durlag for the full trip for most races but the Netherese/fire element areas has been replaced by the Drider wilds. In other words its somewhat easier now.

Fastest and safest way is by use of translocation spells, the DC has been cut down a fair number.
At the sites ive tested in the Upperdark the DC is the same as translocating from UD to surface and vice versa btw.

/M

[Nachti]

Alright. Thank you.

Last question: how do I access the shadowplane now?

[V'rass]

Surfacers cant take the caravan to sshamath.

Erm they can, i have done so multiple times.

[CleverUsername123]

Alright. Thank you.

Last question: how do I access the shadowplane now?

There's a portal to the Plane of Shadow in the Ulcaster ruins.

[Nachti]

Can it be used alone? Or do i need to trigger the levers there with another players?

[Juramenta]

Can it be used alone? Or do i need to trigger the levers there with another players?

You can always teleport past the gate when you are alone to get to the lever.

[Glowfire]

If surfacers can get to Sshamath via Upperdark, why can't underdark races get from Upperdark to the Surface...?

[Aspect of Sorrow]

"Immersion".

Though if it were a more prominent Lolthite-esque city, the dangers would be more apparent for surfacers.

[Glowfire]

How does it aid immersion of it is a one way route, somehow for UD races, but a two-way one for surface races? It's rather confusing.

[Maecius]

I thought it could be traversed in both directions? I'll check with the devs and DMs to see whether it's intentional that it's only one way. It could just be a mistake.

(The only reason I'd think this would be the case would be if the DMs wanted to control the amount of Underdark races on the surface, but didn't necessarily want to limit the amount of RP activity in the Underdark. That is, if the general feeling was that Underdark races on the surface create a headache, but that surface races in the Underdark create more RP opportunities for Underdark players.)

Everyone can at least reach the Upperdark itself, though, right?

[Glowfire]

Everyone can at least reach the Upperdark itself, though, right?

That's indeed true.


Appreciate that you're willing to see if its intended or not, Maecius. I'd be curious to know what the precise reason was.

[Maecius]

A DM has informed be that travel there is already two-way -- but that not all of the ways are common knowledge. We have a QCer testing it out, too, to make sure there are available routes.

If it comes back that there really are no routes besides Durlag's, we'll revisit the discussion on our dev forums. But right now it sounds like there are paths if you seek them out!

We'll probably remain intentionally opaque on the routes though. It's part of the mystery of going between two worlds.

[Glowfire]

Did the testing reveal that they do in fact work both ways, or that Underdark races have their own unique routes? (Although why some routes are just one-way is still beyond my understanding.)

Subject: UD To Surface Travel exploit?
This thread mentions a Zhentarim patrol but only for surfacers. So that's 2 ways now that only surface races can travel by.

The only other route I know of is through Durlag's but that does work two-way.


Just not sure why surface races are having more options (to my understanding).

If I have overlooked something, (anyone) feel free to PM me unless posting with spoiler-tags.



As a note...

Finding someone to Teleport you to the surface is super easy in the Underdark. So having the routes work in odd ways (one-way only) has no benefits in my mind and instead hampers RP when you're in a mixed party and have to find different ways, because you wanted to make an adventure of it.